Cotton gin and cleaner



June 18, 1940. c; GR|FF|N 2,204,03

COTTON GIN AND CLEANER Filed Nov. 17, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 18, 1940. D. c. GRIFFIN 2,204,803 COTTON GIN AND CLEANER I Filed Nov. 17, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 1940. D. c. GRIFFIN co'n'o'u GIN AND CLEANER Filed Nov. 17, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented June 18, 1940 COTTON GIN AND' CLEANER Dan C. Griffin, Jackson, Miss., assignor to Gen- Tenmal Cotton Gin Company, Columbus, Ga., a corporation of Georgia Application November 1'7, 1938, Serial No. 241,048

3 Claims.

This invention relates to cotton gins and cleaners and to a method of removing sand, trash, motes or shales during the processof ginning the cotton in the usual manner.

In the operation of the ordinary cotton gins; and particularly in cotton gins employing an air blast for removing the lint from the gin saws, the motes, fine trash and dirt thrown off by centrifugal force, and dropped by gravity when released through the ginning ribs, will be dropped into the open lint flue opening, or will be pulled into the lint flue by the normal pull over. This reduces the grade of the ginned lint, and is undesirable as it reduces the selling price. It is the desire of spinners and sellers as well to find some way or process whereby as much as possible of the mote, trash and shale with all the dirt possible should be removed in the process of ginning.

Heretofore it has been the practice of. textile mills to install cleaning equipment for the removal of the motes, trash, sand and shale from the ginned lint cotton. In this recleaning process considerable weight is lost and the price of the 25 baled cotton is reduced in this same ratio. It is therefore the purpose of this attachment to remove all or as nearly as possible all the foreign matter, thereby raising the grade and selling price of the cotton delivered directly from the cotton gin plants.

It is the main object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a cotton gin of standard construction, so far as the hulling and ginning operations are concerned, with means for removing the fine trash, motes or shale during the actual ginning of the cotton and by a reverse blower or suction action in cleaning the cotton at the thinnest part of the bat as it passes from the roll box toward the lint flue. In other words, the object of this invention is to eliminate the step of re-cleaning lint cotton which has heretofore been necessary to clean lint contaminated by sand, shale, fine trash or motes which have not been removed in the ordinary process of ginning. v

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as thedetailed description thereof proceeds:

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a central, vertical section of a cotton gin provided with the cleaning mechanism which forms the essential element of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section, to an enlarged scale, taken on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section, also to an enlarged scale, taken on the line 33 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective of a detail of construction.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the application of the invention to a gin having rotary brushes.

As shown in the drawings, the machine embodies the usual saw cylinder 5 mounted for rotation on the shaft 6 journalled at its opposite ends in the framework 'l common in cotton gins for rotation by any suitable source of power.

The seed cotton is fed into the huller front 8, where the hulls, etc, are removed in the usual manner by the huller ribs 9. The cotton, with the hulls removed, is drawn upwardly on the teethof the saws into the roll box H] where it is ginned by the action of the ginning ribs H.

The lint as it is carried around by the saws of the gin where the cotton bat passes through the ginning ribs from the roll box. Beyond this line, the cotton bat is at its thinnest. Consequently, the motes and trash can be most readily removed from this portion of the bat; providing the air blast is properly directed against the lint.

In the form of the invention as shown in Figure 1, the invention comprises the usual cylindrical air blast chamber I2 connected at its upper and lower sides tangentially to the partitions I3 and I4 which extend between opposite end walls of the gin framework and are turned inwardly at their inner ends to form streamlined throats i5 and It for the air blasts directed against the lint on the teeth of the saw cylinder.

A partition ll spaced below the partition l4 extends between the end walls of the gin frame to form a lint duct l8 through which the lint blown off the teeth of the saw cylinder is forced.

A valve Hi hinged to the lower partition ll may at its outer end to the suction pipe 22 which may be suitably valved and connected to a blower or fan (not shown) to apply any necessary or desired degree of suction to the chamber 2|. A valve 23 is hinged to the partition 20 at the inner end thereof for adjustment to control the quantity of air drawn in through the air inlet slot 24 into the suction chamber 2|.

A deflector 25, including a pair of parallel plates 26 and 21, extends between the vertical end walls of that part of the blast chamber extending from the cylindrical casing l2 to the saw cylinder. The plates 26 and 2'! are fixed preferably and symmetrically on opposite sides of a horizontal plane passing through the axis of the cylinder shaft 6. A plate 28, likewise extending between the end walls of the blast chamher, is mounted to slide between the plates 26 and 21 and may be adjusted toward and from the periphery of the saw cylinder by means of the rack 29 formed on one end of the plate 28 and in engagement with an adjusting pinion 30 mounted on a shaft 3! journalled in the end wall of the gin and provided with an operating handle or button 32. Preferably, this rack and pin ion is duplicated on the other end wall to enable the adjustment of plate 28 to be effected from either end of the machine,

The outer edge of the sliding deflector plate 2;? is pmvided with arcuate flanges 33 and 3i forming an apron having its inner surface concentric with the saw cylinder. By the adjustment of the deflection plate 28, the flanges 33 and 34 carried thereon may be adjusted relative to the end of the partitions l3 and M to vary the cross sectional areas of the throats l5 and It through which the air blast of the blast chamber i2 is directed.in opposite directions on the lint adhering to the teeth of the saw cylinder. ,The blast through throat l5 removes shale and motes while that through throat l6 removes the clean lint from the saw.

In the Figure 5 is illustrated a brush gin in which the brush 35 operates as usual to brush the lint from saw 5 while brush 36 operating in the opposite direction brushes the lint back onto the saw and sets up a current of air impelling the dirt particles out through fiue 2l. In this form the baflie 33' functions to separate the lint cleaning and removing brushes and blasts.

The saws of a cotton gin cylinder are very thin, being about .032 to .038 of an inch thick; and the teeth are small and sharp so that each tooth carries but few fibers of lint. These fibers remain on the teeth until they are blown off the saws as they pass below the nozzle for the air blast formed by the throat IS. The cotton fibers trail on each side of the saws while suspended on the teeth. Because of the high speed of the saws, the trailing fibers tend to spread out from each other. In this condition, the fibers are carried toward the air jet formed by the blast directed upwardly through the throat l5. Since this blast of air through the throat i5 is directed oppositely to the direction of rotation of the saws, the fibers are held against the saw teeth and folded back. The pressure of this air jet takes off the fine trash, motes and shale carried by the ginned lint on the saw teeth. The foreign matter dropped by gravity or thrown off from this lint by centrifugal force, or taken ofi by the air blast, is carried through the slot 24 and duct 2| and the chamber 2 to a place outside the gin house,

It is evident that due to the upwardly directed blast tln'ough the throat l5 and tangentially against the saw teeth, the lint fibers are held on the teeth, but the motes and fine trash thrown off by centrifugal force are trapped in the suction chamber 2| and removed from the gin. As the cleaned lint passes downwardly beyond the jet from the throat IS, the air blast is now directed in the same direction as the teeth of the saw. Consequently, the lint is blown from this lower part of the saw cylinder into the lint duct l8 suitably connected to a lint flue (not shown).

The cotton fibers, while passing through the end of the suction chamber, are carded and stratified, and thereby prevented from matting and breaking in subsequent operations.

As the lint passes through the suction chamher, the cotton is in its best shape and in its thinnest bat or spread. The motes and other particles separate from the lint as it passes through the ginning ribs at their upper ends. Consequently, the air blast applied in the reverse direction against the cotton fibers on the saw teeth removes all or practically all of the foreign matter from the lint, and in doing so, is applied to the least possible number of pounds of cotton. The suction applied at this point in the travel of the saw cylinder assists in the cleaning action. since it pulls all the fine trash, shale and dirt along with the mote, to a point outside the gin house.

While the drawings show this cleaner attachllll1t as forming a part of the cotton gin itself, it must be understood that this system can be applied to any gin or system of gin of standard construction Without change in principle of these standard gins as heretofore manufactured. It must also be understood that the invention is not to be considered as limited to the particular details of construction illustrated and described herein, nor in any other manner except as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

What I claim is:

1. In a cotton gin having a rotary saw cylinder and ribbed box, means for cleaning the cotton on the saw and dofflng the cleaned cotton therefrom comprising substantially parallel spaced walls extending between the end walls of the gin and terminating adjacent the periphery of the saw in inwardly directed flanges, substantially concentric with the saw cylinder, a com.- bined deflector plate and gate of substantially T-shape in cross section, coextensive in length with said flanges and positioned intermediate thereof with means for supplying a blast of air between said spaced walls, whereby said air blast will be divided by said deflector plate and directed between same and said flanges in opposite directions tangential to the saw cylinder.

2. Claim 1 with means for adjusting the deflec- 

